


Young Young Master

by liketolaugh



Category: Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler
Genre: Gen, Mutants, deaging, slight AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-27
Updated: 2013-04-27
Packaged: 2017-11-22 14:54:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 14,796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/611047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liketolaugh/pseuds/liketolaugh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ciel is deaged, and Sebastian finds, to his delight, that this Ciel is every bit as manipulative as his older self - even if he is a far sight happier.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. What Is This Sorcery

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place in a slightly AU universe in which all nobles have mutant-like powers. You know, X-gene? Anyway, Ciel's power is empathy. Also, I treat Ash and Angela as separate entities and, in order to include both Alois and the events of Black Butler II, instead of Hannah making Ciel into a demon, she gave Alois his body back. OK? OK.

Sebastian whipped around as light permeated the manor. "Young Master," he hissed immediately. Why hadn't he known something was wrong? Something, somewhere? He dashed toward the study where his Master was working and stopped short.

His Young Master was there, for sure. But he wasn't... exactly the Young Master he knew. He was smaller, and happier.

The boy sitting on the floor looked up at him and smiled. "How do you do, sir? I'm Ciel."

And adorable.

Sebastian's eyes widened slightly and the boy's head ducked down. Then he (Sebastian was going to have to accept that this was indeed Ciel) looked up again, tilting his head in curiosity. Sebastian forced his frozen mind to work and knelt down in front of the boy (who was somehow even smaller than before). "Hello, Ciel. My name is Sebastian." He thought quickly. "Your parents are away for a while, and most of the servants are too, but they sent me and Bard, Finny, and Mey-rin to take care of you while they are away. Tanaka is here as well. Does that sound all right?"

Ciel sighed, looking down. Then he looked up with an unhappy frown. "You're lying, sir." His expression sharpened. "Tell the truth, Sebastian!"

Sebastian winced. That was an order. He couldn't refuse now. "First. Young Master, how old are you now?"

"Eight," Ciel replied, already smiling again. No wonder Elizabeth was so upset at his solemnity if this was how he was before, and his smile was adorable.

Sebastian hoped this wouldn't set Ciel back to the way he was before, or anywhere near it. "Very well. This may be extremely difficult to believe, Young Master."

"I'll know if you're lying, or crazy," Ciel replied firmly. "Tell the truth."

"At this point in time, you are meant to be fourteen years old." Ciel's eyes widened, but there was no disbelief in them. "Four years ago, there was a fire. The Manor burned down, and both your parents died in the fire." Ciel's eyes filled with tears, but he didn't cry, and Sebastian was extremely glad for that. "You were captured by a cult. I am uncertain as to exactly what happened there, but by the end of it you were desperate for a way out, and you called to me. We made a contract, which is shown by the symbol on the back of my hand and on your eye, and I now serve you and only you. I am a demon. Since then, you have met many people over the time you've spent filling your father's shoes and doing your duty as the Head of the Phantomhive family and as the Queen's Watchdog."

Sebastian stopped talking, and Ciel clung to him, shaking.

Finally, Ciel pulled away, rubbing his eyes. When he looked up at Sebastian again, he could barely tell Ciel had been crying. He also noted that the contract seal could easily be seen. Automatically, he started to tie an extra eye patch (which he kept in his pocket) over it as Ciel said,

"Sebastian, you mentioned a Finny, Bard, and Mey-rin. I want to meet them." He held up a hand expectantly as Sebastian finished tying the patch on and pulled away.

For a moment, Sebastian just stared at the hand as he'd never seen it before and was uncertain of exactly what it was. Then he collected himself and opted to ignore the hand, instead rising to his feet.

"I will go and bring them here, Young Master. This will give me time to explain what has happened here," he said dutifully, turning and leaving the room. Ciel dropped his hand, tilting his head in confusion. Sebastian was feeling very conflicted about something, though Ciel wasn't certain what.

Eventually, Ciel just shrugged and reached out with his empathy so that he would know when they were coming, and opened one of the tactics books that Daddy had told him he couldn't read until he was older. Of course, he had ignored him.

He had only read a few pages before his empathy felt Sebastian, letting Ciel know that he had entered the corridor. He put away the book just as the door opened, admitting Sebastian and three other people he didn't know, plus one he did.

The old man, who Ciel recognized as Tanaka, gasped first. "Young Master!"

Ciel beamed at him. "Grandpa!"

In unison, the other three gaped at Tanaka.  _"Grandpa?"_

Tanaka chuckled. "I'd almost forgotten that you used to call me that."

"I thought you'd gone mad, Sebastian," the younger man muttered, staring at Ciel. "But Young Master..."

"Is really, really cute!" the older boy beamed.  **(A/N The younger boy being Ciel)**

Ciel made a face. "I am not cute," he mumbled halfheartedly.

Both the woman and the younger man stared at the boy who'd spoken.

"What?" he protested. "Weird stuff happens to Master Ciel all the time! This isn't nearly as weird as when Sebastian was dead and then he wasn't!"

Both of the other two considered this and conceded the point.

"Young Master," Sebastian started, regaining control of the conversation. "The boy is Finian, or Finny. He is the gardener, but he also helps to protect the manor with his inhuman strength." He nodded to the man. "This is Baldroy, or Bard, as he prefers to be known. He is the cook, and also helps to protect the manor using his penchant for fires and explosions. The woman is Mey-rin, the maid. In addition, she is a gifted sniper."

Ciel gave them all a smile, giggling as surprise flared and delight radiated from them. The giggle seemed to make the emotions more intense.

"Hello, Finny, Bard, Mey-rin," he greeted cheerfully.

"Hello, Young Master," they replied in unison, seemingly automatically.

Ciel finally moved away from the bookshelf and gave each of them a small hug, giggling as more shock radiated off of them in ripples. Mey-rin's arms seemed to automatically hug him back, while Finny seemed afraid that he would break, and Bard seemed uncertain of how to react.

Sebastian stared at him. Was the Young Master he knew  _anywhere_ in this little boy?

Then he shook himself mentally and reminded himself that, regardless of his personal feelings on the matter, he was bound to Ciel's will. He quickly shooed away the other servants, reminding them that there was work to be done regardless of recent events.

As he returned, Ciel gave Sebastian a mischievous look. The demon butler replied with a confused one.

The boy ran.

Sebastian froze with shock for a moment. What on earth was his Young Master doing?

Then he tore after the boy, barely remembering to keep himself to a human speed in his alarm. A laugh echoed from the corridor ahead and, as he gained on Ciel, he saw his Young Master glance over his shoulder, grinning wildly.

Then it hit him, with enough force to stop him in his tracks.

His Young Master was  _playing._

_Ciel Phantomhive,_ head of the ever-untouchable house of Phantomhive, was  _playing._

By the time he actually managed to process this, Ciel had once again disappeared and all that remained was his echoing laugh and a lingering scent.

Normally, Sebastian would disapprove. Normally, he would superspeed ahead and catch the boy to deliver a sound scolding. Normally... his masters had stopped playing long before he grew fond of them.

_Just this once,_ he conceded, taking off after his Young Master at a slower pace than before.  _It's actually... fairly cute..._

Just as Sebastian caught Ciel around his middle - the former smiling slightly and the latter outright laughing - the door opened and Lau stepped in.

Ciel wriggled free of Sebastian's grip and smiled at the man. Odd, the man's flare of confusion didn't appear on his face at all, aside from his eyes opening slightly to peer at the boy. "Why, hello, my little Lord Earl. You're looking small today."

Ciel laughed and nodded. "Sebastian told me I'm supposed to be fourteen right now, but I'm actually eight, you see." He frowned as emotions that practically screamed 'I-am-plotting-villainous-things' burst from the man. Then he smiled sweetly at him. "Did you know, sir, that pawns who defy their masters become quite useless?"

The startled flash of fright was exactly what he had been going for, though the man only smiled. "Yes, my lord," he replied easily. "Quite useless, indeed." The plotting stopped.

Sebastian chuckled quietly, then introduced, "Young Master, this is Lau, one of your underworld contacts. He is the manager of the local opium trade."

Lau reached into a pocket and pulled out a letter. "My, my, it seems that that Queen of yours is even more uncaring of your age than we thought, eh, my little Lord Earl?" He flicked it toward Ciel, who caught it neatly and looked at it as he felt an unexpected flash of mild irritation and the barest hint of concern.

Sure enough, the envelope bore the Queen's seal. He opened it and scanned the letter.

He wrinkled his nose. "There's hardly any information in this, Sebastian. Where do I normally go?"

"You plan to take the case, Young Master?" Sebastian inquired, surprised.

Ciel nodded. "There is no reason for London to suffer simply because I'm little again."

Sebastian personally thought that there was every reason not to take the case, but he knew by now that Ciel would not listen to him on this matter. "You normally go to Scotland Yard first, and then to Undertaker."

"Undertaker?" Ciel asked.

"Undertaker is a local mortician who exchanges information for a laugh."

Ciel gave him an odd look, but shrugged and nodded. "We should leave for London as soon as possible."

Sebastian bowed. "Yes, my Young Master."

And if he snickered when he realized that Ciel was too small to get in and out of the carriage on his own, well, no one had to know.


	2. Indians and Inspectors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I need to do a chapter summary? Well, OK. In this chapter, Ciel meets Soma, makes fun of him, meets Aberline, likes him, and sees Randall again whilst making fun of him. OK? OK.

Upon reaching the townhouse, Sebastian lifted Ciel from the carriage and allowed the small boy to take his hand.

As soon as the door to the townhouse opened, they heard the sound of pounding footsteps. Ciel looked up in confusion as a purple-haired boy thundered down.

"Ciellllllll!" he greeted gleefully. "You have returned to see m-" He cut himself off as he caught sight of Ciel. He pitched forward off the last step and sprawled on his stomach as he stared at Ciel, transfixed by shock. Ciel gave him a puzzled frown.

A white-haired man ran down after him. "My prince, you must be careful!" he chided, helping the staring boy off the ground. Then he added, "Welcome back, Lord Ci-" He looked up and saw Ciel and he, too, trailed off. "el," he finished weakly. Ciel giggled as steadily increasing shock radiated off of both of them.

The purple-haired boy was (finally) brought out of his shock and he lunged for Ciel, grabbing his shoulders and falling to his knees in front of the bemused boy, his dismay communicating itself through the contact. "Ciellll!" he wailed. "What has happened to youuuuuuu?!"

Ciel squirmed away from him, out of his grip, and ducked away to hide behind Sebastian's leg, only half peeking out to continue watching them.

Sebastian sighed. So his Young Master was shy at this age? How troublesome. He carefully coaxed Ciel out of his hiding place, but could not persuade him to let go of him. "Young Master, this is Prince Soma and his attendant, Agni. Prince Soma is your friend, and Mister Agni is mine."

This time, Ciel did not move to approach them, but instead cast them both a shy smile.

Lau strode in belatedly, chuckling. "Well, isn't this interesting? Agni, it seems that your master has startled my lord. Who would have guessed that he was a shy child, hm?"

Soma looked confused. "Ciel is shy?" he echoed. He frowned. Then he brightened and beamed at Ciel. "Don't be shy, little Ciel!" He was about to continue, but paused and gave Sebastian a confused look. "Eh... why is Ciel so little?"

"We don't know," admitted Sebastian, frowning. "We intend to find out as quickly as possible, however."

Soma frowned, considered this, and shrugged. Well, by his feelings, he did genuinely like Ciel. But they were so...  _strong._ All the people he had grown up around had had smooth, subtle, soft feelings, but Agni's and Soma's were... well, if he had to describe them,  _loud._

Soma resumed his grinning at Ciel. "Anyway, you don't have to be afraid of me, little Ciel!"

"I'm not afraid of you," contradicted Ciel quietly. "You're just loud."

Soma's face fell into a pout as Lau chortled. Ciel stifled a giggle. When was the last time he had pouted?

Clearly, Sebastian agreed. "Might I say, prince, that my Young Master is currently eight years old and yet is still more mature than you," Sebastian informed the pouting boy dryly.

"I haven't pouted in ages," Ciel added with a quiet laugh.

Soma immediately stopped pouting. He stood back up and gave Ciel a considering smile. Then he nodded decisively. "You were little before, so you were my little brother. But now you're even littler, so that makes you my baby brother!" he announced.

For the first time, Ciel provided behavioral evidence that he and his older self were, in fact, the same person.

He scowled at Prince Soma.

Soma gaped at him in shock as Ciel turned his back to the prince, hiding a laugh at his further shock and alarm, and asked Sebastian, "Can we go and talk to Scotland Yard now, Sebastian? Lau can stay here until we return. I think that it would be a bad idea for a drug dealer to walk into Scotland Yard's headquarters, even with the protection of the Phantomhives."

Sebastian smirked a little and nodded. They left as Soma complained,

"He was even scary when he was little!"

Ciel giggled.

**(ThisIsALineBreak) I thought about ending it here... (ThisIsALineBreak)**

When they arrived at Scotland Yard's headquarters, Sebastian once again guided Ciel in. Ciel's head didn't even go above the desk.

"My Young Master and I would like to know if Inspector Aberline is here," Sebastian told the secretary in clipped tones.

The secretary looked up and paled. Ciel tilted his head in confusion as alarm flared from her, but shrugged it off. "He's in his office."

Sebastian thanked her and guided Ciel toward Aberline's office. He knocked and politely waited for acknowledgement before entering.

Aberline looked up curiously from his conversation with Randall. "Oh, Sebastian, hello. Is Ciel with you?"

Ciel ran up to him and stopped a foot or so away. He smiled up at him as Aberline's eyes widened in recognition. "Right here, Inspector," he said cheerfully.

Aberline's mouth opened in shock. "Ciel?"

Ciel nodded. "Mm-hm!"

"What happened?" Aberline asked.

"We're not precisely sure," admitted Sebastian grudgingly. "All we know is that he is now eight."

After a few moments, Randall recovered himself enough to snap, "What are you doing here?"

Ciel turned to him and his happy smile gave way to a foreboding expression, much like the one he had worn when he regarded the Viscount Druitt. "Hello, Sir Randall. Her Majesty told me about those recent killings." His foreboding expression, like the smile before it, fell to reveal a small smirk as he held up the envelope with the Queen's seal. "She didn't tell me much, you see, and I knew Scotland Yard would surely have some information already gathered."

Ciel felt a probe against his mental shield and he remembered what his Daddy had told him about Sir Randall: He had a power. Psychic persuasion.  **(A/N: That basically means he can give them an inclination to do something)**

His smile turned chilling. "That won't work, Sir Randall. It never does. You see, I don't like it when people cheat in  _my_ games."

Randall jerked back a little and Ciel's smiled warmed again as he returned his attention to Aberline, who was startled. What, just because he was a child, Aberline thought he couldn't intimidate people? Ciel's smile widened a little. How naive. "Inspector, may I please see the files for this case?"

Aberline nodded hesitantly and brought over the file that had lain, abandoned, in his desk. Ciel read through the files rapidly.

"Eight years old, and still a vulture," Randall spat.

Ciel glanced up from the files. "Daddy says that Scotland Yard doesn't like us Phantomhives because they're jealous that we do better." He smiled in amusement, just short of laughing. "It seems he was right." Ciel returned to the file as Sebastian tried desperately to muffle his snickers and Randall glared evilly.

Finally, Ciel closed the file with a snap, returning it to Aberline. "This man seems to be after mainly children with black hair and blue eyes, and there aren't any signs of how they died. Sebastian, let's go see that mortician you mentioned. Undertaker, you said?"

Sebastian nodded. "Yes, Young Master." He took the hand Ciel held out and Ciel waved over his shoulder as they left.

"Good-bye, Inspector Aberline!" he smiled.

Aberline stared after the departing pair, open-mouthed. Finally, he managed, "Ciel was... a lot happier... when he was little."

Randall just grunted, displeased. He'd been snubbed by an eight year old.


	3. A Laugh of Logic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> OK, so... another one. Alrighty then. This chapter is dedicated to lucifersdaugter, who reminded me that this account exists. Thanks for commenting and I'm glad you like it! You don't seem unreasonably impatient - I'm sorry, I just keep forgetting that this account exists. Most of my stories are actually on my FF.net account, and since that gets results (i.e. hits, comments, and favorites, etc.) I pay a lot more attention to it. Sorry! I'll try to remember this one. And I promise that all stories/chapters over there WILL eventually end up here. ANYWAY, in this chapter, Ciel meets Undertaker and makes a few deductions. ALSO, some of the things I mention in this are references to stories I have in there, so just roll with it, m'kay? Please?

Ciel stifled a yawn as they reached Undertaker's parlor, but shook himself. He could sleep when they returned to the townhouse. He looked over as Sebastian opened the door and lifted him out. It was kind of embarrassing, really - Lizzy was only a few months older than him, or she was, and  _she_ didn't have to be lifted, because she was a lot taller than him.

"This is Undertaker's parlor," Sebastian explained to him with annoyed amusement. He opened the door and Ciel looked around for 'Undertaker', who didn't appear to be there.

Once he stretched out his senses, though... His gaze fixed on one of the coffins on the ground just as it began to slide open, revealing a man with white hair covering his eyes, lying in the coffin.

The man sat up to look at them. "Hello, my little l-" He stopped short, staring at Ciel.

And then he burst out laughing and fell back into the coffin.

Ciel yelped in surprise and jumped back a little, clutching onto Sebastian's coat. Sebastian sighed.

After a few minutes, Undertaker's loud shouts of laughter died away into persistent chuckles, and he struggled to pull himself back up, looking at Ciel again with a wide grin.

"Um, hello, Undertaker. H-how do you do?" Ciel asked warily. He watched in bemusement as Undertaker fell once again into peals of laughter, losing his grip and falling back into his coffin.

Finally, the blasts of amusement faded somewhat and Undertaker regained control, though he could not restrain a few chuckles. "Anything, my little lord," he snickered. "Any information at all. I haven't laughed that hard in years!"

Ciel snapped out of his bemusement and asked, "Do you know anything about the children's corpses?" He paused to consider that, in the underworld, finding children's corpses was a fairly regular thing. "The ones the yard found, I mean. With bluish-black hair and blue eyes."

Undertaker chuckled again. "Oh, yes, those corpses. I'll tell you all about them, my lord."

Five short minutes later, they were settled down (Ciel stared in puzzlement at his  _beaker_ of tea) Undertaker began.

"I've recently been receiving a very specific type of children's corpse, my lord," he started. "All of them seem to have blue-black hair, blue eyes, and an unusually feminine structure, though they are all boys. Does that sound at all familiar, my lord?"

Ciel nodded slowly.

"And what of the individuals?" Sebastian prompted.

"Almost each one of them died a very specific way," Undertaker explained. He rose and crept (there was really no other word for it) over to Ciel, standing over him half-hunched. "The youngest was three years old; he died from bleeding in his brain." He tapped Ciel's head. "The next was four years old. He died of exhaustion, my lord, worked far too hard for one so young. That also sounds quite familiar, doesn't it?" He chuckled and continued, "Then there was the eight year old, beaten to death." Ciel's eyes widened; he was beginning to see a pattern emerge. "Then a nine year old, shot right here," he poked Ciel's chest, right where his heart was. He leaned back a little, slightly disturbed. "And then finally the thirteen year old, and he doesn't seem to have died for any reason at all, really. Quite odd, isn't it?" He chuckled again.

"And all of them bore the same brand, on the left side of their back," Ciel mused quietly. He wasn't sure about that, but it could just be a calling card, he supposed. "Thank you, Undertaker."

Behind them, Undertaker burst out laughing again, and they left the strange man and his parlor behind.

"So," Ciel began as Sebastian put him back into the carriage. "I believe I've made a few connections, but I need to know a few things."

Sebastian nodded, listening as he moved to begin driving the carriage.

"Did I ever mention anything happening when I was nine?"

Sebastian seemed to ponder this for a moment, before nodding. "Ah, yes. I believe that was when you mentioned you first investigation took place, Young Master."

Ciel nodded to himself. Yes, that made sense. Anyone doing an investigation had a high chance of being shot.

"When I was ten?" he prompted.

A flare of realization flickered from Sebastian before he stated, "You were indeed stabbed when you were ten, Young Master, and then quite nearly had your soul eaten when you were thirteen."

"And the brand?"

"When you were captured for a month after the manor burned down, you bore that very same brand," agreed Sebastian, taking note of where he was going with this.

Ciel nodded thoughtfully and leaned back, satisfied. "Is there anyone with a grudge against me?"

"Is there anyone  _without_ a grudge against you, Young Master?" Sebastian chuckled.


	4. Fun and Games

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not much to say here, the title pretty much sums it up, and also I have to leave in TWO FREAKING MINUTES for school, so bye! Oh, and it keeps telling me at the bottom that 'Brevity is the soul of wit'... Hahaha.

Sebastian pulled up to the townhouse and moved to bring Ciel out of the carriage. "Young Master, we're here," he called. There was no answer and he looked in and held back a smile.

Ciel was curled up on his side, head tucked in toward his knees, fast asleep.

Sebastian carefully scooped Ciel up, trying not to wake him, and carried the young boy inside.

Soma pounded down the stairs again, but stopped short, again, upon seeing Ciel, barely managing to stay on his feet. But too late - annoyance flickered across Sebastian's face as Ciel stirred a little and opened his eyes sleepily. Sebastian glared at Soma, who backed away and fled. "S'bas'n?" Ciel mumbled sleepily.

"It is okay, Young Master," Sebastian assured him. "Go back to sleep."

Ciel nodded and closed his eyes again, falling back asleep.

Sebastian brought him upstairs to his room and carefully changed him into a nightshirt that, as he was somehow barely over half his older self's size, looked more like a nightgown on him, and then tucked him into the large bed, blowing out the candle and leaving.

He frowned to himself slightly. He would have to wash the clothes Ciel had worn today, and summon Nina to make new clothes for him. Casual clothing and nightwear, and then a business suit or so wouldn't be amiss, and neither would an outfit for special occasions. He sighed. Yes, he would have to summon Nina.

The next morning, Sebastian entered Ciel's room as usual and called, "Young Master, it is time to wake up."

Ciel yawned cutely as Sebastian opened the curtains and tied them off, letting the sun wake Ciel the rest of the way. "Good morning, Sebastian."

"Good morning, Young Master," he replied. He quickly explained what was for breakfast as he dressed Ciel in the clothes he had worn the day before. Ciel just nodded and asked for a scone - of course.

After breakfast, Ciel told him, "I want you to make a list of everything supernatural that has recently lived in, visited, or otherwise affected this area. Add marks to indicate those with with grudges, things that can kill without making a mark, and potential allied. Understood?"

"Yes, Young Master. It should take me around half the day; will you be all right?" Sebastian asked, slight concern wavering off of him.

Ciel nodded, giving him a bright smile.

"In addition, I have summoned Nina to make some new clothes while you are in this form," Sebastian added, dislike coloring the air this time. "She should arrive sometime soon after I return."

Ciel smiled. "Okay!" he agreed.

Sebastian nodded at him once and left.

Ciel smiled to himself and ran off to have a look around the townhouse.

Around the corner, Soma yelped as Ciel turned a corner, accidentally plowing into him at full speed and sending both of them to the ground.

A boy half his height had bowled him over.

The embarrassment, it burned.

Ciel, though, just laughed delightedly. "Hi, Soma! Do you want to play with me?" Sure, the other boy was loud, but he would probably be fun to play with.

Soma stared at him, open-mouthed. Finally, he processed the question, ignored the fact that this was  _Ciel_ in order to preserve his sanity, and nodded slowly, unsure of what else he could do when Ciel was looking at him so hopefully.

Ciel beamed at him. "Great! What do you want to play?"

Soma thought about it. Well, he couldn't play what they normally played, chess or old maid, Ciel probably didn't even know how to play. Then again, that could mean he finally beat Ciel at chess... nah. So what had he liked to play when he was little? He finally opened his mouth to answer when Agni turned the corner opposite the one Ciel had rounded and looked over both of them quickly, clearly startled.

"My prince, Lord Ciel, why are you on the ground?" he asked, vague concern radiating from him for a moment. He didn't wait for an answer, instead helping both of them off the ground. Ciel smiled at him, giving him a hopeful look.

"Will you play with us?" he asked hopefully. "Soma was just going to pick a game. Please?"

Agni sent Soma a questioning look. "Prince Soma...?"

Soma gave him a discreet nod and Ciel... Ciel was... giving him... very adorable puppy dog eyes, eyes that pleaded and screamed that he would cry as his world broke into a million pieces if Agni said no.

If someone said no to those eyes, Agni would seriously question whether or not they had a soul.

Agni nodded.

"How about hide and seek?" Soma suggested. Ciel clapped his hands, smiling again.

"OK!" he agreed happily. He could easily withdraw his empathy so that he couldn't sense them, and it would be fun to actually  _look_ for someone!

And that was how Soma and Agni found themselves playing hide-and-seek with Ciel. Which was how Sebastian found them, hours later.

Agni blushed under Sebastian's incredulous gaze as the man found him hiding behind an armchair in a corner. Soma just grinned unashamedly from behind a shelf.

Just then, Ciel ran in and spotted Soma. He laughed, face flushed with excitement and exertion. "I found you!" he crowed.

Soma's grin transformed into a pout.

Ciel wandered around for a few minutes, looking for Agni under chairs, behind desks, and in corners. Finally, he peeked behind Agni's chair. Agni groaned dramatically as Ciel laughed. "There you are!"

Sebastian just stared at them, bemused.

 


	5. Suspicious Enthusiasm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dammit, I forgot about this account again. Sorry. Anyway, Ciel makes a few more deductions and Miss Nina visits. Enough said.

Finally, Sebastian broke out of his bemusement and cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Young Master."

Immediately, the attention of all three people in the room turned to him. "I have the list," he said simply.

Ciel instantly switched to 'investigation' mode, and held out his hand expectantly. Sebastian deposited the list in his hand.

And then he plopped himself down in the middle of the floor.

Sebastian sighed, slight aggravation sizzling off of him. "Young Master, that's not dignified..."

Ciel ignored him.

Soma pouted. Even at eight, Ciel was busy. Always busy. Too busy for Soma.

Ciel ran his finger down the list, along with the helpful, brief explanation of each species mentioned at the top, which was accompanied by a short overview of significant encounters with each one. "Six demons," Ciel murmured, loudly enough for Sebastian's sensitive hearing to detect, but too quiet for Soma or even Agni. "Two incubi. One succubus. Four reapers. Five spirits. Two ghosts, and one angel." He scrunched up his nose. "An evil angel?" He shrugged and decided to just accept it, and picked up a pencil he had found while running around.

He quickly crossed off the reapers. "They can't kill without making  _some_ sort of mark, and Undertaker would have mentioned anything like that," he muttered. Then he noticed something and crossed off Sebastian, making a face at the man. He didn't even bother providing reasoning for that and moved straight on, crossing off the spirits. "All of them are forest spirits, so they're bound to within a meter of it, and most of the bodies were found outside of that area," he continued muttering.

Sebastian smirked slightly, waiting patiently as his Young Master worked through the list. Yes, his Young Master was as clever as ever.

Soma stared as the young boy crossed off different names, working silently and efficiently and constantly making conclusions, systematically eliminating suspects without even needing further investigation.  _How was he doing that?_

Agni, though, was focusing on the list itself, silently impressed. Sebastian had made what looked to be an incredibly thorough list - in only half a day!

"One of the demons is contracted to... Alois Trancy. The other four are bound to his demon, so they serve him as well, making Alois himself a possible suspect," Ciel murmured, moving on. "The incubi and succubus are also possible suspects, as is the angel. The ghosts are bound to the castle," He crossed them off. "And thus are also out of the range of many of the bodies. Alois and Angela both have grudges against me, but have no known potential allies."

Ciel finally looked back up at Sebastian. "Tomorrow we will investigate this Alois Trancy, okay?" he said to him, phrasing the order as more of a question.

Sebastian bowed. "Yes, my lord." He turned to Agni and Soma and stated, "Miss Nina is a bit much, so it would be wise to return to your rooms for a while. I will inform you when she has left."

Agni nodded and Prince Soma shrugged, and both of them turned to go upstairs.

Once they had left, Sebastian turned back to Ciel. "Shall we return to your study until Miss Nina arrives, then?"

"No need!" sang Nina, slamming open the door. She beamed at Ciel. "When I heard that I would get to work with little eight-year-old Ciel again, I came running!" She cackled. "He was so fun to work with, and so cute then!"

Ciel smiled uncomfortably up at her. "Hi, Nina," he greeted quietly.

She stared at him with her eyes sparkling, delight flashing. "Yes! It is true!" Then the sparkles faded and she stared at him with a determined look that resembled a glare. "I have learned from my mistakes with your older self, Ciel! Any measurements besides nude measurements are unacceptable! Strip!"

Ciel gave her a wide-eyed, puzzled look, then looked up at Sebastian, who sighed. "She wants you to remove your clothing, Young Master."

"Why?" Ciel asked.

"She wishes to have your clothes be as close-fitting as possible," Sebastian sighed, speaking over the fuming Nina, who grumbled.

Ciel shrugged and started to take it off, discarding it as he did. Sebastian immediately picked up the abandoned clothing and folded it, putting it aside. Nina tapped her foot impatiently, eyeing him calculatingly.

"Miss Nina," Sebastian called, drawing her attention to him, albeit with a glare directed at him. "Today, I would like you to tailor a few casual suits for the Young Master, as well as some night clothing, and a suit each for business and special occasions. Understood?"

"Yes, yes, fine, Mr. Hardhead," snapped Nina dismissively, brandishing her tape measure at Ciel as he finally finished.

She started to measure him, having him stretch out his arms slightly as he gave her a slightly bemused look. She hadn't been this enthusiastic before, he was certain...

"I'd forgotten how small you used to be... little lord, indeed," murmured Nina. Ciel flushed.

"I'm not that small!" he insisted.

She rapidly completed her measurements and tensed, wracking her brains for only a moment before she started to vibrate so hard, she was almost bouncing. "Yes, yes, yes! I've got it!"

She held out her hand for a pencil and paper, which she received a moment later. "The boy shall wear a blue-based winter-style suit on special occasions, adorned with a black ribbon at the collar and with a white lining, but black braids and ornamental buttons! Daily wear..." she started to mutter too lowly for anyone else to hear, and then abandoned her muttering as she seemed unable to get the words out fast enough, but sketching more quickly than any of them could remember her doing before. Finally, she tossed them beside with a beam and turned a glare on the pair of them.

"Out!" she snapped, pushing them toward the door. "I need to start making these and if I let him get a word in Hardhead will ruin  _everything!_ And I won't let this opportunity go to waste!"

Ciel gave Sebastian a bemused look as Nina slammed the door behind them. Sebastian just sighed.

"Miss Nina has gotten more enthusiastic, I gather?" he asked dryly.

Ciel nodded.

"Well," he muttered. "I expect that Miss Nina will be done before long, but it should be a great deal quicker than before. Until then, we shall work on your studies."

Ciel nodded in understanding, and mere hours later, he was the proud owner of seven different suits, three special outfits, nightwear, and two business suits. Upon seeing the unrequested clothing, Sebastian glared at Nina, who glared right back challengingly.

"Thank you, Nina!" Ciel beamed, unwittingly shattering the tension.

Nina smiled at the small boy. "You are different, aren't you?" she commented as she left. "Very different."


	6. Messy Mischief

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I apologize! *grovels* I forgot about this... AGAIN! This is chapter six, of ten I've written thus far. In this one, Alois Trancy meets Little!Ciel.

The carriage rumbled along the road toward the Trancy Mansion.

"What's this Alois Trancy like, anyway?" Ciel asked curiously. "Do I know him?"

"Yes, Young Master," confirmed Sebastian. "You should be wary; Alois is the most volatile boy you have ever met, and quite the sadist, as well."

"That means a lot, coming from a demon," Ciel commented.

Sebastian nodded. "He is also known to be excitable, particularly when it comes to you, and not at all subtle. He also has no fear of, shall we say, tipping the odds strongly in his favor in the most blatant ways possible."

Ciel tilted his head and frowned. "I thought that the Trancys were clever and cunning, like the Phantomhives. Wouldn't they have a similar upbringing?"

"One could assume so, Young Master," Sebastian agreed. "But Alois was not raised as a Trancy, but rather as a common boy, due to special circumstances. Also, be wary of Claude, his butler."

"The demon?" Ciel asked. "Why?"

"It strikes me as something to be concerned about that you can say those two phrases in conjunction with each other," Sebastian commented dryly, but then expanded, "Claude has coveted your soul above even that of his master's ever since he tasted your blood. He is enchanted by it. We have come to something of an agreement, but then, Claude has broken an agreement before."

Ciel nodded in understanding, though Sebastian, with his back turned, could not see him. "Okay."

They finally came to a halt in front of the manor, and a trio of, well, triplets arrived and ushered away the horses, murmuring to each other questioningly.

Sebastian led Ciel toward the door and knocked on it briskly. A man with golden eyes and ruffled looking hair answered it, and Sebastian's gaze darkened slightly, coloring with the same dislike that had tinted his voice when he had spoken of Claude, which meant that this man must be Claude.

He looked like what Ciel imagined Sebastian might look like if he were a boring old businessman.

Which explained why Sebastian could never be a boring old businessman.

"Sebastian Michaelis," the man greeted, voice monotonous, though Ciel imagined that he could perhaps hear just a hint of the dislike the man felt being hinted at in his voice.

"Claude," Sebastian replied, confirming Ciel's suspicions.

"Where is your master?" Claude asked.

Ciel darted forward and tugged slightly harder than necessary on the man's sleeve, looking up at him with the same look he had given Randall. "Right here, Claude."

Claude's eyes widened, shock blaring from him full force. "Lord Phantomhive?"

"The one and only," Sebastian chuckled, taking Ciel's hand and drawing him away from the other demon. Ciel frowned curiously at the strong feeling of possessiveness curling from the man to wrap around him, but obediently stepped closer to him.

"Come in," Claude said, stepping aside to allow them in. He called, "Your highness, Lord Phantomhive and his butler have come for a visit."

There was a purple-blond blur rushing down the stairs and then a blond boy was rushing towards Ciel, arms outstretched. "Ciel!" he screamed joyfully, lunging to take him in a hug.

Ciel sidestepped him and he fell onto his stomach, eyes wide and startled. He twisted to stare over his shoulder at Ciel with wide eyes and a slight pout.

"Ciel!" he whined, then froze. "Ciel?"

"Yes, my name  _is_ Ciel, and yes, I am eight years old," Ciel said bluntly. Oh, he didn't like this boy  _at all._

"My lord," Claude interrupted. "If I may ask, why are you here?"

"Ah, yes," sighed Sebastian. "We're here on business, I'm afraid."

Ciel smiled down at Alois. "Oh, yes. Did you happen to hear of the recent murders?"

Alois rolled his eyes, finally sitting up. "Oh, those? Ha! Yeah, we did. Honestly, I'd like to know what they think they're doing, being so obvious. We'd do so much better than that, wouldn't we, Claude?"

"Yes, your highness," Claude replied obediently.

Sebastian and Ciel exchanged a brief glance. So they had nothing to do with them after all.

"They didn't even have much fun with them," continued Alois, frowning. "They just... died. Just like that! I bet there wasn't even that much blood, where's the fun in that?"

 _Sadist indeed,_ Ciel thought privately, looking at Alois. "Thank you, Alois, that was helpful."

Alois sat all the way up suddenly. "Wait, you're leaving already? Oh, no way!" He made a face at Ciel. "I can't let you leave yet! You're staying for dinner, of course!"

"No, my lord and I have imposed on you long enough, I believe," Sebastian interrupted courteously. "Our business is finished, so I think that we shall leave you now."

"Nonsense!" Alois snapped, beaming. "Ciel, you  _must_ stay here. It would be horribly rude for you to bother us and then leave, anyway."

Ciel sighed and looked up at Sebastian for a moment, though the demon barely noticed as he glowered simultaneously at Claude and Alois, then looked down again. "If we must," Ciel sighed.

Alois clapped his hands once. "You must!"

Ten minutes later, Ciel had somehow found a book, which Alois had been trying for the last five to distract him from. Claude sighed and Sebastian resisted the urge to snicker at the boy's repeated failed attempts to get Ciel to pay attention to him.

"Ciel, don't you want to play?" he asked, shaking Ciel's shoulder. Ciel barely spared him a thought, one hand leaving the book to bat at his hand boredly, inwardly struggling not to laugh at his growing aggravation. Oh, this was fun. This was a  _lot_ of fun.

Fifteen minutes later, Alois finally gave up, sulking. He slunk off to do... whatever Alois did. Ciel didn't really care.

The book lasted him all the way until the infernal dinner that Alois insisted that they come to, and Sebastian and Claude served their masters the meal, which was eaten in silence.

At first.

And then Alois smirked and Ciel barely managed not to look up as mischief flashed across the table. He soon regretted this as he felt something warm and wet splatter on his head, and when he looked up and frowned, some of it dripped down his face and trickled down to the corner of his mouth. Without thinking, he licked it off.

Gravy.

He looked at Alois to see a wide, satisfied smirk decorating the other's face. Slowly, Ciel wiped the remainder of the gravy off of his face, reached for his own spoon, and slowly and deliberately scooped up a sizable amount of mashed potato into it. He saw Alois' eyes widen in realization and felt it flare just as he pulled the spoon back and let fly, causing the white substance to sail across the table and land perfectly in Alois' hair, splattering it and his face.

Alois' eyes lit with something almost feral, and he retrieved his own spoon, filling it with peas that flew across to batter Ciel, some of it sticking to the gravy in his hair. Others bounced off of Ciel and hit Sebastian.

Ciel felt his annoyance at this and gave him a slightly hopeful, mischievous look. Sebastian sent him a questioning look in return and then nodded in recognition, amusement glinting.

Seconds later, a scoop of cranberry sauce splattered Claude's face.

Slowly, almost casually, he reached up to wipe it off his glasses, then deliberately reached down to a bowl of applesauce, that, seconds later, found itself across Sebastian's suit.

A mere moment after that, the remainder of the food was flying back and forth, splattering and bouncing off the servants and masters, staining and sailing and spattering.

Finally, the last bit of bread was thrown and they found themselves out of ammo. Alois frowned. Ciel smirked. Sebastian looked slightly stunned and Claude was, as per usual, a blank slate.

Then Sebastian looked down at Ciel and frowned. "Young Master, you're a mess."

"Your highness, I must insist that you allow me to bathe you immediately," Claude insisted.

Alois sighed dramatically as Ciel just lifted his arms and allowed Sebastian to pick him up and carry him to the bathroom. "If I must." He stood and followed the guest pair to his own bathroom.

Both butlers undressed their masters, putting the dirty clothes aside, and filled the bath (and in Sebastian's case, the spare bath) with water that the triplets had boiled as soon as they saw what the four were up to (and with much bemused murmuring) and cool water with it. Sebastian helped Ciel to step into the slightly overlarge tub, and Alois splashed Claude playfully as soon as he was in. Claude sighed.

"Arms up, Young Master," Sebastian instructed, wiping away the food carefully.

Alois pushed away Claude's washcloth as it got close to his eyes. "Be  _careful,_ Claude!" he insisted, though Claude had been nowhere near getting water in his eyes. Claude cast an envious and slightly wistful glance at the other tub, where Ciel was quietly and obediently allowing himself to be bathed by the other butler.

This did not, however, go unnoticed by Sebastian, who glared at Claude.

Alois sent Ciel a sullen look, which went unnoticed by the younger boy, who was by now half-asleep, being supported by Sebastian.

After a few minutes, Sebastian tried to tell Ciel that he was finished, but the boy had fallen asleep, and it was with a soft sigh that Sebastian picked him up, dried him, and dressed him. He bowed to Claude, still glowering at him slightly.

"I am afraid that I must take my Young Master home now." And without waiting for a response, he held Ciel carefully to his chest and went to put him in the carriage, which the triplets had prepared for their departure.

"What was that all about?" Alois wondered. "I want you to find out, Claude."

"Yes, your highness," Claude bowed.


	7. Chesspiece

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter, chess is played and choices are made. I hope you like it!

Ciel sighed as he got up from the table and looked up at Sebastian. "Sebastian, today I want you to investigate any and all activity from the angel, past and possible. That means you'll be out for the day, because I want you to also keep a lookout for any activity today, since by all accounts she should do something, as she has every eight days so far, and that's today. Okay?"

"I understand, Young Master," bowed Sebastian. "You will be fine again, I trust?"

Ciel nodded and gestured for Sebastian to leave. Sebastian obeyed, much less apprehensive this time.

Lau chuckled as he came down the steps. "Little Lord Earl, up already I see. Are you going to be alone today?"

Ciel gave him a mixed annoyed and amused look. "Oh, you. Where were you the last few days, Lau? I thought you'd left."

Lau gave him a mock-hurt look betrayed by the amusement rippling just beneath the surface. "Why, my lord, I'd never do such a thing as that. In fact, I was ensuring that my opium den would be fine without me, just so that I could watch you. Have you so little faith in me, my lord?"

Ciel laughed and replied, "Stalk me, you mean. Well, I'm not doing anything of importance today, because I'm waiting for Sebastian to return with his findings, which won't be until later. Would you like to play something? Like chess, maybe?"

Lau smiled. "That sounds perfectly fine, my lord."

Later, Soma peeked into the room and gave the board between them a surprised look. "Little Ciel, you can still play chess?" he blurted out without thinking.

Ciel gave him an offended look. "I'm eight, not two," he huffed.

Lau laughed, lounging back slightly. "Has the little Lord Earl ever  _not_ been able to play chess?" he chortled.

"It was one of the first games I was taught to play," Ciel grumbled in reply. "Of course I can play it."

Soma sulked a little. Or a lot.

Ciel moved his knight into its final position and gave Lau a bright smile. "Checkmate," he said cheerfully.

Lau gave the board a slightly bemused look, and then smiled his usual odd smile. "Oh, nicely done, my lord. Is this how the little Lord Earl plays the people around him as well?"

Ciel scoffed. "Of course not!" he laughed. Soma relaxed a little before Ciel continued, "This is just a game. Just for fun. Life is a competition and I can't just let myself lose, now, can I?" His smile gained a slightly darker edge as he went on, "Game pieces aren't accurate representations of real life. In real life, pawns betray, knights break the rules, kings move with their pieces and queens don't do much of anything at all. In real life, there's more than one level of play and advantages can and will be taken, whether they are against the enemy or against your own." His smile brightened again. "The people around me? They are as simple to manipulate as the pieces on a board, and far more useful. Now... shall we play again?"

Soma shook himself. Little Ciel was surely not serious, was just playing around as this version of him seemed wont to do. He couldn't possibly mean it, and meanwhile, he'd take advantage of a Little Ciel to play chess against. "I challenge you to a game, Ciel!" he grinned.

Ciel gave him a bright smile. "OK, then. You know how to play?"

Soma nodded.

"Then let's begin."

Ten minutes later...

"Checkmate," Ciel said, yawning.

Soma stared at the board. OK... So Little Ciel wasn't an easy opponent... And there went his pride. Again. Wasn't it enough when the little boy bowled him over?

"I thought you said you knew how to play?" complained Ciel.

"I do!" Soma insisted.

"No, not just that boring old knowing the rules, what to do, and so on," Ciel dismissed impatiently. "I mean how to  _play._ "

Soma stared at him blankly. Ciel sighed again.

"Look," he told him, setting the board again. "Chess isn't just about getting to the king as fast as possible, straightforward. Chess is a competition of mental strength. That means trickery, deceit, cleverness. You need to use strategies, methods, plans..." And so he went on to teach Soma how to play.

By the end, Soma's head was spinning. There was so much more to chess than he'd ever realized! Why hadn't older Ciel taught him this?

Then Sebastian returned, and in his hand he held a note.

"Young Master," he said to Ciel. "There was a note, on the next spot in the pattern."

Ciel nodded and held out his hand. "Better than yet another dead body," he sighed. "Give it here."

Sebastian gave him the note and he read it.

_Those little children represented each and every time your impurity ought to have ceased to corrupt the world, Lord Phantomhive. The next will show you how you really will die, and it won't be an imposter._

Ciel tilted his head. Then, slowly, he smile. "Game on."


	8. Traitorous

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I would like to thank lucifersdaugter, who has thus far been the only person who has commented. However, I would also like to thank the people who have brought this story up to over a hundred and fifty views! YAY! Anyway, this chapter is really short, so I'll put the next one up tomorrow in apology. But not today. For now, in this chapter, a message is delivered. Real exciting, right?

When the next corpse was found, Sebastian immediately notified Ciel.

"It has been found, my lord," he told him.

Ciel looked up and smiled. It was not a warm smile. "Oh, good. What of it?"

"Eight years old, with a dagger in his back," Sebastian replied promptly. "But no note of any sort."

"Stabbed in the back," Ciel murmured quietly. His eyes flashed with anger. "Literal, or perhaps, a traitor in our midst?" He tilted his head a little, a fox wondering how best to kill its prey.

"Each is equally likely, Young Master," Sebastian replied.

Ciel looked down to the chess board. "Well, now," he murmured.

The black knight moved to take the white queen.

* * *

Alois read over the note Claude had handed him. He smirked. "And has the next body been found yet, Claude?" he asked.

"Yes, your highness," replied Claude. He produced the report with a flourish and handed it to Alois, who read over that as well.

When he'd finished, he reared back and laughed out loud. "Oh, Ciel, what an end for you! Stabbed in the back, you always did hate traitors!" He laughed louder. "I only hope that you're played with before they kill you, and then I can feed you to the spiders!"

Claude watched him impassively.

In the window, a woman with white hair and violet eyes smirked.

"Traitors?" she whispered. "Who ever said anything about traitors?"

She crumpled the paper in her hand. "To be a traitor requires one to have had some sort of loyalty to the betrayed, and who could have loyalty toward the unwanted?"

She slipped the paper into the window and turned to leave.

"The unwanted, end them," she murmured, watching as Alois ordered Claude to 'get that piece of shit out of the window, and why was it there in the first place, Claude?'. "The unclean, end them." The pair read over the paper, and Alois' eyes lit up, a beaming grin spreading over his face. She turned away.

"The unnecessary, end them!" But who in the world was truly necessary? In the end, none were clean, none were necessary, and none were wanted.

In the end, the world must burn.


	9. Drag Me In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Damn, I knew I was forgetting something. Sorry it's later than I said... also, the next chapter is the last one that's already written, so after that you'll have to wait for me to get an idea, just like the people on FF. I myself am not entirely certain what will happen next. In this chapter, more games are played. And not just by those who you expect it from!

The door opened and Ciel looked up curiously. Then he beamed, recognizing the girl despite the difference in age.

"Lizzy!" he cheered, running over and hugging her.

She looked down, eyes wide. "C-Ciel?" she gasped, shock flaring.

He looked up at her with a wide smile and nodded.

She stared at him for a moment, eyes wide and mouth open, before she broke into a wide beam, affection welling up into a, well, happy balloon. "You're so  _cute!_ " she squealed. She bent down and in an instant she had straightened back up, with Ciel held in her arms. He squealed in surprise and flung his arms around her neck.

"I am not," he mumbled halfheartedly.

"What happened?" she asked. Confusion billowed, but it was still overwhelmed by the glee and affection.

Ciel shrugged, then changed the subject, bored out of his mind. "Lizzy, will you play with me?"

Lizzy smiled, pleased. Ciel was smiling again!

...Of course, he was also eight again, but that wasn't the point. Ciel was smiling!

"Of course, Ciel. What do you want to play?"

Ciel thought for a moment. Then he grinned. "Catch me if you can!" he called over his shoulder as he wriggled free and darted away, laughing at her surprise.

Elizabeth stared for a moment, startled. Then a mischievous smirk crossed her face and she took off after him, running as he ducked behind a couch.

All four other people stared at them with fascinated bemusement as Elizabeth chased Ciel in and out the doorways, up and down the stairs, around furniture, and even through them once.

Finally, Elizabeth cornered him and picked him up again. "I can," she informed him.

His wide grin didn't even falter at his defeat and he looked over her shoulder at Soma, eyes sparkling. "Soma! Soma, play with us!"

Soma only looked slightly surprised, and quickly grinned and bounded over to join them, delighted. A quick discussion had them playing a game that basically had Soma chasing Ciel and Lizzy, pretending to be a man-eating monster.

And so there were three bemused adults. Ciel giggled.

Soma roared dramatically as he tried to chase Ciel into a corner as Elizabeth had done.

He failed.

In fact, it wasn't long before Ciel threw Elizabeth a quick grin and a wink, along with a nod to Soma, and then set himself to the task of thoroughly distracting the boy. He darted right in front of him, only just out of his reach. "Come on, Soma, can't you catch me?" he teased.

Soma growled at him and ran faster, but failed to notice Elizabeth coming up behind him, set on his prize as Ciel finally allowed himself to be cornered.

Elizabeth jumped on him and they both tumbled to the ground.

Soma groaned mentally. Really, he had been bowled over.  _Again._ Wasn't one injury to his pride enough?

He looked up at Agni. "Come, Agni, join us!" he told the man, grinning.

"Yeah, Agni, play with us!" added Ciel, bouncing as the glee and playfulness saturated the room.

"Yes, Agni, won't you?" put in Elizabeth, smiling at him hopefully.

Agni looked between them helplessly before finally conceding and moving to join them, leaving behind a single pair of adults.

"Duck, Duck, Goose?" Elizabeth suggested. Ciel beamed and nodded, and Soma agreed. Agni chuckled in amusement and they all sat in a circle. Agni was the last to sit, meaning that he had to tag first.

"Duck," he started, with only a hint of bemusement in his voice, tapping Ciel's shoulder. Ciel giggled.

"Duck," he continued, tapping Elizabeth. She smiled at him.

"Goose!" he finished, barely tapping Soma before he started to make his way around the circle.

Soma sat, startled, for a moment, before he reacted and chased after Agni, but he was too late, and Agni took his place, laughing. Soma pouted for a moment before he reached out to tap Agni. "Duck," he said sulkily.

"Duck," he continued, tapping Ciel.

"Duck." Elizabeth.

"Duck." Agni again.

"Duck." Ciel.

"Duck."

Ciel decided that his strategy was to bore them all to sleep and then choose one of them to be Goose.

It was working.

Finally, Soma tapped Elizabeth. "Goose!" he yelped, running away.

Elizabeth was up like a shot, chasing him down, but once again too late, and so Soma took her place.

Finally, they grew bored of that game too, and another one was chosen. Marco Polo.

Ciel gave Sebastian a slightly hopeful look, but Sebastian just gave him a vaguely confused and somewhat flat look in reply. Ciel sighed and then turned to Lau, smile already back in place. "Lau! Lau! Come on!"

Lau tilted his head and then smiled vaguely. "Very well, my little Lord Earl. I shall play a game with you." Ciel wondered why his emotions were always so cloudy.

Maybe he was always high. It made sense. He certainly acted like it.

He walked forward slowly and Ciel explained the game quickly while blindfolding him with a bit of cloth he'd gotten from who-knew-where while Sebastian, the last adult standing, shook his head slowly.

"Marco," Lau called cheerfully, walking straight forward and pretending as if he wasn't blindfolded at all.

"Polo!" sang Ciel, immediately running around to the opposite side from where he'd called. Lau wandered in that direction, almost running into the wall before he realized what was about to happen and turning.

"Marco."

"Polo!" Ciel laughed. He danced right behind Lau for a minute before darting in front of him and then away.

"Marco!" Lau called again.

And this went on for some time, until Lau finally figured out that Soma snickered every time Ciel misdirected him and Elizabeth giggled every time he only pretended to, and used this to track Ciel down, catching him.

This, too, was played for a while, but then Ciel regained his mischievous smile and darted toward Sebastian. He smiled sweetly up at the (much) taller man before reaching out to tap his stomach. "Tag," he said brightly. "You're it."

He darted away.

Sebastian stared after him for a moment, bemused, before he snapped back to himself and started to chase after his young Young Master.

And then there were none.

In fact, none of them even realized how odd this was until Lau was trying to duck under Sebastian's arm as he lunged for both him and Agni and they each caught each others' eyes. Ciel giggled as sudden confusion shot out of them with the force of a carriage crash. One mutual thought was communicated.

_How did this happen?_

At least one of them must have voiced this out loud, because all three children laughed, and before very long at all, the adults joined them.

* * *

Alois led Claude slowly through the East End, down one stereotypical dark alleyway after another.

_Find them in the East End, and deliver this message._

Alois made the last turn down the alley and smirked at Claude.

_Go to the Phantomhive family's townhouse._

"Hello," greeted Alois cheerfully. "I have a message for you."

_Don't get caught._

"What d'you want with someone like me?" the shadow asked, a hint of brown hair peaking into the light.

_And kill Ciel Phantomhive._

"I have a proposition for you."


	10. Thorns on Roses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And another chapter! I warn you, this is the last one that I already have written. I have the plan for the next one laid out, but I haven't written it yet and that might take a while. Ciel takes a bit of time away from the townhouse in this chapter.

Ciel glanced over his shoulder, shivering at the tension stifling him from the very walls of the townhouse.

Ever since they had gotten the note, Sebastian hadn't let Ciel out of the townhouse and the stress in it was strangling him. Sure, playing inside with Elizabeth was fun, but he didn't want to be trapped in the walls anymore. He had places he wanted to go, things he wanted to do  _outside_ as well!

But, of course, Sebastian wouldn't let him. Instead, he had to sneak out now, while Sebastian was busy! He laughed nervously to himself, liking the idea but constantly absorbing the stress-tension-worry from the people in the house. He had enough of those to deal with by himself, thanks!

He poked his head out the door and then ran into the garden, already relaxing just a little bit from the open air, and smothering his own gleeful laughter.

Ciel looked around, beaming. Oh, those were the white roses he liked!

He darted over to the bush and chose an especially nice rose to give to Lizzy later. It was pretty, and it looked innocent and pure despite the vicious thorns beneath - just like her! He should probably take those off before he gave it to her, though.

He smiled when he found the tree he was looking for. He tucked the rose inside his pocket and glanced around. Of course, there wasn't anyone there. He started to climb it as high as he could, up almost to the top. And it was a very high tree. Once he had found a nice perch, he swung one leg over it and faced the end of the branch.

He paused for a moment, laying on his stomach down the branch and smiling contently down at the ground, far below.

He always liked climbing trees, especially at times like this, when stress was high. No one else knew, and he liked it that way. After all, who would understand? He was a Phantomhive - cold, perfect, untouchable. He didn't feel stress, didn't get scared, didn't need to escape because that would be weakness.

But he wasn't as perfect as a Phantomhive ought to be. He worried about his father, got frightened when he was kidnapped, scared when someone came home hurt, and when those happened, he escaped. He climbed a tree, got far away from the ground.

When he was on the ground, everything was up close, personal, right in front of him, demanding acknowledgement. It had to be dealt with, and it had to be dealt with  _now._ There could be no mistakes, no imperfections, not a single hint of weakness. Not in front of his friends, or his servants, and most of the time, not even in front of his family. On the ground, everything,  _everything,_ was taller than him, bigger than him.

On the ground, everything was harder.

But up here, high in the tree, the world was small and distant. There was nothing to do, no responsibility, no expectations, and nothing mattered anymore. There was only the the leaves, the breeze, and the open air below. Alone with his thoughts, no need for a mask, no need for fear. No need for anything at all.

He just looked down at the ground for a while, content. But finally he sighed, smiled again, and pulled the rose back out of his pocket, absentmindedly beginning to pull away the thorns and watching them fall the the ground, far below.

In a way, everyone was a rose. Each special in their own way, some spotted with age or wear, some with holes eaten through them, damaged by insects or weather. And, like the rose, everyone had their thorns. Even 'good' people.

Bad people, people like him, people like his family, had very obvious thorns, wicked and curved and reaching out to slice through the defenseless finger that reached for the rose. Everyone knew that the thorn was there. Only a select few still reached for it. But the thorn was big, it took more pushing to slice the finger deeply enough to truly wound.

Other people were like Lizzy. The thorn was there, easily visible if you looked for it. You reach for it, and your finger will be impaled on the spike, and you didn't even expect it. Completely unexpected, the vicious thorn would bite into your finger, leaving a trail of blood dripping, showing itself to the world. Lizzy's thorns were long and hidden, but not as much as others. Those thorns were not the worst.

The worst were the good people. Good people, like Soma, like Agni, had thorns that you wouldn't see unless you inspected every inch, every nook and cranny. They would lure you in with a farce of benevolent innocence, and before you knew it, your hand was sliced wide open, flesh exposed for all to see, before your very eyes, and you never even saw it coming.

He reached toward the stem again and frowned. He ran his fingers up and down the stem. Still not finding what he was looking for, he looked down and sighed.

Of course, once the rose had lost its thorns, it really was entirely defenseless.

"Time to go," he said aloud. Having had these precious minutes to himself, he felt ready to return, at least for a while, to the suffocating, tension-filled townhouse.

Back into his pocket went the rose and he began to climb down. He focused on the townhouse, feeling for Lizzy, and made his way in that direction. Focused as he was, he didn't notice as a small figure crept up behind him, a knife clutched in their hand.

The figure took a deep, steadying,  _audible_ breath. This, however, he heard, and just as the knife began moving he spun around, eyes widening. The knife buried itself in his chest.

Ciel's mouth opened in shock. His vision began to darken as an intense burn engulfed his stomach, drawing a pain-filled scream from him, and the last thing he saw was the wide eyes of a blue-eyed brown-haired girl.

* * *

A scream ripped through the air and Sebastian straightened up abruptly. "Young Master!"

The next second, he was gone.

At the same time, Soma and Agni had heard the same scream. Soma, startled and frightened, looked at Agni with wide eyes. "Find him!"

The words were barely out of his mouth before Agni was going out the door.

Sebastian, naturally, got there first, and he was by his master's side quickly. There was another person standing over the fallen figure, someone Sebastian recognized instantly.

The figure that stood frozen over Ciel was Freckle.

She wasn't standing for long, though, as she was knocked to the ground and held there, while Sebastian instantly turn his attention to his fallen master. As soon as he saw it, he knew it was bad, very bad. Ciel needed a hospital; healing was not something he could do! He ignored the stuttering pleas below him and started to try and slow the bleeding, doing what he could.

He wanted to take Ciel to a hospital, but that would mean releasing Freckle for now, and that meant that she could try again, which was, naturally, completely unacceptable. For once, he wasn't sure what to do, panic starting to creep into his mind as he struggled to make a decision.

His thoughts were interrupted by the pounding of footsteps and he looked up.

His wide, almost desperate eyes met Agni's shocked, worried ones. A silent plea passed through the red pair and Agni's look faded into understanding. He nodded once.

Sebastian picked up Ciel and then he was gone, trusting Agni to keep Freckle from escaping.


	11. Haunted Dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And this here is the first time you people get a chapter at the same time as the FF group, haha. In this chapter, Freckle is haunted and plans are made.

Freckle twisted the blood soaked rose between her fingers, staring at it mournfully. It had been beautiful before, white and spotless, clutched in Smile’s dirty hand. But had that been Smile? She remembered that Smile had been really undersized, true, but that boy she’d stabbed… surely he hadn’t been that small?

It didn’t matter, really. Her fist clenched and angry tears started to leak out of her eyes again. Smile had killed her family. She didn’t care if she killed just Smile, or his family too! He deserved it!

Overtaken by another fit of fury, she threw the bloody rose across the room, and it hit the opposite wall, falling to the ground and leaving a red splotch on the wall. She glared at it for a moment before turning to face the wall.

“How could you?”

A voice, small and vulnerable, sounded behind her. She whirled, wide-eyed.

There in front of her was a small boy, looking at her mournfully. There was a large bloody stain on the front of his shirt, right where she’d stabbed the boy. He was paler than before – he looked almost… _transparent._

Her eyes widened in shock and fear. _No…_

“You killed me,” he repeated sadly. “How _could_ you?”

“I-I…” she stuttered. “I thought you were… You looked like… Who’re you?”

He didn’t answer. “Why didn’t you try before?” he asked, eyes looking up at her pleadingly.

She felt helpless under that gaze – it pierced her to the core and drew out her innermost secrets. “I didn’t have anythin’ I needed… no weapon, no way in, y’see.”

He tilted his head and then shuffled his feet, eyes widening, impossibly, even more as he looked up at her. “What changed that?”

“Why’re you askin’ these questions?” Freckle asked desperately. Why was he haunting her like this?

He looked down and hugged himself. “I want to know,” he whispered, sounding vulnerable. “I want to know why you killed me… I want to know how.”

“I went somewhere,” Freckle confessed. “This boy… blond hair, blue eyes… he sent me to a place.”

“Where?”

“Near the palace… it was a pure white house. Clean, all creepy-like. There was a woman there, gave me the knife and told me how to get in.”

The boy smiled sadly. “Thank you.”

Freckle didn’t answer.

The boy looked down. “Ciel could have killed you before… he regrets sparing you.” He looked up, eyes intent, penetrating to her very soul. She frowned, suddenly realizing that those eyes looked very… _alive…_ “Now he won’t.”

He reached into his coat and pulled something out. Freckle didn’t even have time to react before a gunshot echoed through the small room and a bullet buried itself deep into her brain, and she knew no more.

Ciel watched apathetically as blood spilled from the brand-new hole in the brown-haired girl’s skull. Then he looked toward the door and asked plaintively, “Can I wash this makeup off now?”

The door opened and he heard a chuckle from the other side. “I will attend to that immediately,” Sebastian said, smirking in amusement down at the corpse. “That was quite the show, little master.”

Ciel smiled brightly. “Thanks!” he said happily. Then he winced, a hand darting up to the bloody spot, and he let out a little pained sound.

“No more walking for you, Ciel!” Soma asserted, frowning as he entered, too. He winced as his gaze landed on the bloody corpse and he looked away hurriedly.

“Just so,” Sebastian agreed, bending down to pick Ciel up. Ciel made a face at him. “It will be quite some time before I can allow you to walk, I believe.”

Ciel let out a groan, but laid his head on Sebastian’s shoulder, sulking slightly. “Why not?” he whined.

“It would hinder your recovery, Lord Ciel,” Agni explained, having followed Soma in. “But may I say, you did your job excellently.”

Ciel smiled at him, sulking forgotten. “Thanks, Agni!” he smiled. Then he frowned, looking down at the body with interest. “What do we do with her?” he wondered.

“I will dispose of it,” Sebastian dismissed.

“Make sure you do,” Ciel agreed.

Sebastian carried him out of the room and they were quickly followed by the two Indians to the sitting room, where Sebastian carefully set Ciel down in a way that wouldn’t aggravate his injury. “Do remember to stay off your feet, Young Master,” chided Sebastian when Ciel immediately shifted to get off. Ciel huffed and moved back, wincing again.

“What are you going to do now?” Soma asked.

“Well, that house she mentioned is going to have to be visited,” Ciel mused. “And that woman will have to be killed as well, of course.” He frowned. “But if I am not allowed to stand…”

“If I may, Young Master,” Sebastian inserted smoothly. Ciel looked up at him curiously. “I could perhaps go and dispose of her myself? If we were to wait for you to recover sufficiently to go after her, she would have time to make another attempt on your life, which may be more successful than this one.”

Ciel instantly dismissed the idea. “No.”

Sebastian paused, not expecting that at all. This version of Ciel seemed far less stubborn than the older one… but apparently, he didn’t know what was best for himself, either. “No?”

“No,” Ciel agreed. “You will most certainly _not_ leave me out of this, Sebastian! That is an order!” His voice rose with each word, and he sat up more, eyes blazing with anger. “I will not sit idly by while someone else takes my revenge for me!”

Sebastian remained frozen in shock for a moment longer, before he smirked and bowed. “Yes, my lord.”


	12. To Play Pretend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long! In this chapter, Sebastian bandages, Angela is angry, and Ciel makes it all better by playing pretend.

Ciel sat on his bed, discontent and distinctly uncomfortable. He winced again as Sebastian began to unwind the bandages from his torso.

“Alois,” he mused, frowning. “I should have guessed. He didn’t like me much.”

“Your older self was always suspicious of Alois,” Sebastian agreed, putting aside the bloodied bandages. “He was never your most trustworthy… I hesitate to say ally.”

Ciel smiled ruefully. “But Angela… Well, that was to be expected, I suppose. Why does she want to kill me, exactly?”

“You caused the death of her brother, Ash,” Sebastian explained, now beginning to wind fresh bandages over the stab wound. “He was killed as part of the vengeance for your parents, as he and Angela caused their deaths.”

Ciel’s eyes flashed dangerously and he felt a rope of satisfaction whip out from Sebastian, if only for a moment. “Did she? Well, that will not stand.” He considered, biting his lip softly. “That white house… it must be her base.”

“I believe so,” Sebastian affirmed.

“When I am…” Ciel wrinkled his nose. “ _Sufficiently recovered…_ we will go there. I will first head in alone; you will remain just outside.”

Sebastian paused, hands tightening around the bandage and a mixture of unease and displeasure roiling like a storm. “My lord-”

Ciel spoke over him, ignoring his words. “Angela will, of course, be suspicious, but many are. It is usually dissipated when I act my most innocent, so that is what I will do. When her guard is down, I will call for you, and you, Sebastian, will come. You will incapacitate her; I will kill her.”

Sebastian paused again, looking surprised. Ciel’s certainty in his plan and contingency of his call had calmed him somewhat, but he was surprised at something else now. “Are you not going to exact a toll in blood, my lord?”

Ciel smiled cheerfully. “Well, of course I am! That goes without saying, Sebastian.”

Sebastian smiled in return and tightened the bandages one last time, tying them off and standing. “Yes, my lord.”

It was a week later that Sebastian pulled the gauze away and smiled. “This is almost finished healing, my lord.”

Ciel smiled and nodded in satisfaction, resisting the urge to wriggle impatiently as Sebastian carefully replaced the bandages. “Enough to act, Sebastian?”

Ciel’s voice, while still as childish as ever, warned Sebastian that Ciel would not be pleased if the answer was no. A wave of satisfaction, warm and smooth, accompanied his answer.

“Yes, my lord.”

Ciel’s visible eye glinted in delight. “Good.”

A single sapphire met twin rubies and identical waves of satisfaction clashed to churn into a sense of intense anticipation, shared by both holders of the contract.

“You should not be doing this, little brother,” Soma reprimanded, simmering worry belying his stern tone. Ciel was annoyed nonetheless.

“I do what I like,” he replied, slightly offended. “Angela cannot be allowed to remain.”

“The little Lord Earl knows what he is doing,” Lau smiled placidly. Agni gave him an uncertain look, but Lau did not waver.

Ciel ignored both of them, giving Soma a slightly offended look. “I do what I like. Angela cannot be allowed to remain.” He smiled cutely. “Besides, if we let her live, she might keep trying to kill me, and that’s not okay, is it?”

Soma considered, wary hesitation drifting about him like a hazy cloud. “I don’t know…”

“Something like Freckle could happen again,” Ciel pushed. He widened his eyes a little, pouting. “I don’t want to have to go without my big brother’s approval.”

With that, he could feel Soma’s resistance crumble. The older boy sighed.

“Okay, little Ciel.”

Ciel beamed and hugged him. “Thanks, Soma!”

They were out the door before either Indian could get another word in. Soma just kept smiling at the door until it sunk in: Ciel had tricked him again.

Soma cursed.

Sebastian closed the door behind them and Ciel giggled. “Blatant manipulation,” he smiled. “A bit overt for my tastes, but it usually works all the same.”

Sebastian chuckled, helping Ciel into the carriage. “Indeed, Young Master.”

Ciel looked up as he felt a lash of apprehension. Angela’s hideout was fast approaching, he realized suddenly, and Sebastian was slowing the carriage. He felt an echo of his own worry, but the carriage stopped before it could begin to truly frighten him and there was suddenly no more time for second thoughts.

Ciel was removed from the carriage and he gave Sebastian a single, nervous nod before slowly approaching the white house, pale with sudden fright. But he did not falter.

He opened the door as he reached it, glancing around uneasily. He conveniently ignored the fact that he could sense Angela, lying in wait.

Seeing nothing, as he knew he would, he ventured forward. To his surprise, though, he saw a table in the middle of the floor, spotless and shiny. A little note lay on the table’s surface. He slipped through the darkness of the house and picked up the note between his little fingers.

_Isn’t it sad, little Phantomhive, when no one can be trusted? Not even your allies stay by your side; Alois Trancy is the one to have sent the assassin to your home. Does the knowledge burn you, Ciel?_

Inwardly, Ciel was dancing with glee. Angela didn’t know that he already knew who betrayed him! Oh, he could have so much fun with this! He so rarely got to play at grief and horror and betrayal.

Outwardly, he let his face go slack, as if with shock. He started to tremble, crumpling the paper in his hand and letting his knees fold beneath him. He bent over, head low to the ground, and let out a wordless scream of anguish.

Ciel forced himself not to flinch as Angela swooped down from her hiding place in the ceiling, gleeful and pleased, to land softly in front of him. If he had truly been within the grips of despair, as he was pretending to be, he wouldn’t have noticed. He swiftly forced tears to spill from his eyes.

“I th-thought... I thought he was my _friend…_ ” he whimpered. “Why…?”

He didn’t have to fake a jump as he felt gentle fingers caress his chin, bringing it up so tearstained blue met soft purple.

“I’m sorry, Ciel,” she said. Deception dripped off of her, though her face seemed open and sincere. “But I can help; in this form, you are clean. I can save you.”

He stared at her with wide, teary eyes.

“Your demon scares you, doesn’t he, Ciel?”

Ciel, looking defeated and subdued, nodded. His breath hitched.

“You don’t have to go through with it, little one. Just stay with me, by my side. Stay clean. I will keep him away. That’s why you came here, is it not, Ciel?”

“Not quite.”

She frowned, drawing her hand back as if burned.

Ciel sat up, eyes suddenly dry, free of any traces of tears. His little mouth formed one word, commanding and sure. “Sebastian.”

She stood up straight, eyes blazing in sudden realization and cold fury. “Why, you-! You little brat! How…” She seemed lost for words in the depths of her wrath. She spat out the next words that came to her, venomous and deadly. “I thought that cutting away years of your life would wipe you clean… I was a fool.”

“You were a fool,” Ciel agreed. The door opened and Sebastian burst in. “But that’s not why.”

To Sebastian, he continued. “Incapacitate her. But remember, I want to kill her.”

Sebastian smirked, tightening his gloves with his teeth as he eyed Angela predatorily. “Yes, my lord.”


	13. Bang and Whimper

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The end. Enough said.

Sebastian wasted no time before whipping out his favorite set of table knives and throwing them at Angela. Not one of the three hit, though; she leapt into the air, out of the way. In turn, her wings flared, and Sebastian dodged as deadly-sharp arrow feathers shot toward him.

The next moment, Angela drew her own silvery-gold angelic dagger and dove from above, while Sebastian, armed with more shining silver knives, jumped into the air. Ciel watched from below, tucked into an out-of-the-way corner, as silver struck steel.

For a moment, they seemed to hand, suspended, in the air. Demon pushed against angel. Angel pushed back. Neither made progress. Then, in the next second, Sebastian shoved forcefully against the dagger, pushing it aside, and used his other arm to withdraw yet another set of knives, which he lashed out with.

This time, the hit landed, the blades biting deeply into Angela's side. She gasped in pain, the dagger tumbling from her grasp and falling to the ground below. A snarl marred her features and her wings flexed again, releasing another barrage of feathers, this time managing to graze Sebastian's shoulder. He let out a quiet grunt, more from shock then pain.

Below, Ciel quietly slipped toward the fallen dagger, safe in the knowledge that Angela was too blinded by anger and occupied with Sebastian to take notice. He tucked it into his jacket before he returned to his corner. From there, he looked up impassively as the battle raged above, eyes wide and curious.

He had ordered Sebastian to win, and he would win. He knew that much.

Finally, both beings settled again on the ground, no less wrathful than at the start. Tension crackled in the air in the briefest of moments left to breathe.

Sebastian, along with the graze on his shoulder, was bleeding from his head, and stood slightly awkwardly on one of his legs. He seemed unaffected, though, hardly a trace of pain on his face and still as ready to fight as before. Already, the wounds seemed to be closing, the bleeding slowing down.

Angela, on the other hand, was breathing laboriously. Deep wounds dug into her side and stomach, and her arm was held stiffly. One of her wings appeared half-plucked and bloodstained. She staggered a little as she landed; Ciel smiled.

The moment passed and Sebastian lunged forward suddenly, aiming to pin her to the wall. He was stronger than her; he succeeded. Angela could only struggle, trying to throw Sebastian off. She jerked, again and again, but eventually was forced to admit defeat, and sagged in his grip, glaring at him.

Angela was still. Sebastian's eyes narrowed in suspicion.

In another second, Angela threw all her weight forward with a roar. A surge of blindingly bright light came with her, and their combined force threw Sebastian into the opposite wall. Unnoticed to him, for a just a moment, his body lost its human guise and dissolved into smoke, before reforming.

Angela lunged for her chance while Sebastian was stunned by the blow, but the demon wasn't frozen long enough for her to land another hit. He sprang out of the way just in time, leaving the wall behind to be partially disintegrated. Angela whirled on him, firing another tendril of light.

Sebastian jumped straight up, out of the way of the beam.

Ciel's eyes widened as the light soared toward him.

Angela gasped, reaching as if to take back the light that would undo her hard work.

Sebastian twisted in midair. His eyes widened as he realized that it was already too late to react.

Ciel's mouth opened in a gasp as the light hit him.

He was knocked back to the ground with a cry, and then, for a moment, both beings were frozen. That was not supposed to happen. Neither of them meant for that to happen. It was not a good thing. Ciel was limp, unconscious in the corner. Complete and utter silence, heavy with shock, filled the room.

Then a scream tore it wide open, loud and agonized. Ciel convulsed on the ground, and rings of blinding light ran along his body. Another scream ripped free from his lungs.

Breaking out of his frozen state, Sebastian didn't think twice before flinging still more knives at Angela. Too stunned to react, she was pinned to the solid wooden wall, knives embedded in her clothing, hands, and either side of her neck. She quickly realized that moving was too risky, and settled for a baleful glare.

"Young Master!" called Sebastian, already beside Ciel. He placed his hand on Ciel's arm, but another ring of light had him hissing and pulling away. He glanced at it; rather than a burn, just for an instant, he saw the familiar shadowy, clawed hand, before it reformed into its human disguise.

He tore his gaze away from the strange phenomenon as Ciel stopped thrashing and let out a low groan, falling limp. Sebastian's hands shot forward again, adjusting the eight-year-old so that he lay against the wall.

But he wasn't eight anymore. He was nine. Then ten. Ciel was… growing. Eleven, twelve… Would he remember anything at all of the last few weeks? Would he be the same as before?

Thirteen.

Ciel's eyes opened.

For a moment, he looked disoriented, confused. "Sebastian?" He looked around. "What…" He trailed off, eyes widening in surprise as the last few weeks of memories rushed back to him. He caught up quickly and his eyes narrowed again.

"Young Master?" Sebastian questioned.

"Is she dead yet?" Ciel, intently focused on his once-again-thirteen year old hands, did not look up.

Sebastian glanced disdainfully at the still-hateful angel. "Unfortunately, no, my lord. She is still alive… for now."

"Good." Ciel struggled to stand, legs shaky after their sudden regrowth. Instinctively, Sebastian reached out to steady him.

The first tip-off in Sebastian's mind came when he accepted the help without resistance.

It didn't take long to reach Angela. She opened her mouth almost immediately to start spewing her words of venom, but a nod from Ciel had Sebastian clapping his hand over her mouth, stopping that plan in its tracks.

"How do you intend to kill her, my lord?" Sebastian asked, as if his hand was not currently preventing her from making any audible noise. "No ordinary human weapon will do, after all."

"Not with a bang, but with a whimper," Ciel stated, not paying Sebastian's resulting confusion any heed.

This was followed by the second tip-off.

Ciel tilted his head and granted Angela a wide, chilling smile. "Exactly as you deserve."

From within his jacket, he drew the angelic dagger that his younger self had retrieved from the floor, early on in the fight.

His expression turned dark and threatening as he pressed the softly glowing dagger against Angela's throat. A bead of crimson liquid formed on the edge of the blade, and her mouth formed into a snarl.

"You were a fool to cross a Phantomhive," he said softly. Then he slid the knife against her throat, slitting it wide open.

Angela died, gasping for breath, unable to move, bleeding onto her clean, white dress. Not with a bang, but with a whimper.

And Ciel watched. Not cold, as he would have before the transformation. But not smiling, like his younger self. Instead, he watched intently, completely focused on the fallen angel, with a strange, detached sort of interest as all emotion in her body slowly, steadily, drained away to nothing.

When Angela's struggles slowed to a stop, Ciel stood back. For the second time since he was restored, he smiled. Bright. Relieved. He looked at Sebastian, and it flickered and died with speed unimaginable in his eight-year-old self.

"Just one more." It wasn't a question. Sebastian answered anyway.

"Yes, my lord."

As, once again, Ciel smiled – soft this time, wistful – Sebastian felt realization dawn on him with this last hint. Oh.  _Oh._

"One more, and it will all be over for me." He turned his head; the soft, lingering smile was now directed at Sebastian. "I don't really mind. In fact…" He looked back to the front as he spoke again. "I'm rather looking forward to it."

It seemed that some effects of the spell lingered.

* * *

Sebastian was right.

Over the next few weeks, it became more and more apparent that Ciel had changed. He was happier. He smiled more. Soma was met with less rudeness and he was less averse to physical contact, and he played games more often.

Of course, he was still their Young Master. He was as easily annoyed and work-oriented as ever, and still just as intolerant. He still snapped and he still yelled.

But he was happier. Friendlier, nicer, and  _spookier._

What was creepy on his eight-year-old self was just as frightening on his thirteen-year-old features.

And he still relentlessly pursued his target.

They were satisfied.


End file.
